Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Douglas Research Advisory

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Hyun-jung has introduced a revised Income Tax Act that would lower the top tax rate on dividend income from 35% to 25%.</li>
<li>Given that this proposal is coming from the ruling Democratic Party, there is a fairly high probability that this could be passed into law in 3Q 2025.</li>
<li>We provide a list of 28 mid-cap/large cap stocks in Korea with more than 35% dividend payout and 3% or more dividend yield that could benefit from this new proposal.</li>
</ul>


Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Hyun-jung has introduced a revised Income Tax Act that would lower the top tax rate on dividend income from 35% to 25%.
Given that this proposal is coming from the ruling Democratic Party, there is a fairly high probability that this could be passed into law in 3Q 2025.
We provide a list of 28 mid-cap/large cap stocks in Korea with more than 35% dividend payout and 3% or more dividend yield that could benefit from this new proposal.


Separate Dividend Tax Plan in Korea: A Push for a 25% Rate for Top Bracket

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

<ul>
<li>South Korea rebounds from a record low, with fund allocations rising from 8.6% to 10.4%—bringing net positioning close to equal weight for the first time in 17 years.</li>
<li>Tech and Financials lead the revival, with SK Hynix surging in both price and ownership. Other names like NAVER and Hyundai Rotem show growing traction.</li>
<li>Selectivity is back. While some stocks still lag, the shift toward Korea’s global leaders is helping EM investors rebuild exposure after years of structural underweight.</li>
</ul>


South Korea rebounds from a record low, with fund allocations rising from 8.6% to 10.4%—bringing net positioning close to equal weight for the first time in 17 years.
Tech and Financials lead the revival, with SK Hynix surging in both price and ownership. Other names like NAVER and Hyundai Rotem show growing traction.
Selectivity is back. While some stocks still lag, the shift toward Korea’s global leaders is helping EM investors rebuild exposure after years of structural underweight.


South Korea: Rebounding as Underweight Narrows

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>We remain near-term bullish since our 4/22/25 Compass, and our intermediate-term outlook remains bullish as well (as of our 5/14/25 Compass).</li>
<li>We will maintain our bullish view as long as market dynamics remain healthy and the SPX and ACWI-US are above 5700-5785 and $119-$121.</li>
<li>$123-$123.50 remains short-term support to watch on ACWI-US (6.5-month base); we would expect support here on a pullback, but a break below it would likely mean a test of $119-$121</li>
</ul>


We remain near-term bullish since our 4/22/25 Compass, and our intermediate-term outlook remains bullish as well (as of our 5/14/25 Compass).
We will maintain our bullish view as long as market dynamics remain healthy and the SPX and ACWI-US are above 5700-5785 and $119-$121.
$123-$123.50 remains short-term support to watch on ACWI-US (6.5-month base); we would expect support here on a pullback, but a break below it would likely mean a test of $119-$121


Israel TA-125 Remains Bullish; Buys in Norway; All MSCI Global Indexes Above Base Supports

<ul>
<li>Small cap Emerging Market funds have outperformed their large-cap peers over the past 10 years.</li>
<li>Yet small and midcap exposure decreased to near record levels last year, in spite of managers maintaining an overweight position versus the benchmark.</li>
<li>We screen for well owned and small/midcap stocks that are showing strong momentum among managers.</li>
</ul>


Small cap Emerging Market funds have outperformed their large-cap peers over the past 10 years.
Yet small and midcap exposure decreased to near record levels last year, in spite of managers maintaining an overweight position versus the benchmark.
We screen for well owned and small/midcap stocks that are showing strong momentum among managers.


<ul>
<li>Amid chaos in Korean politics (including impeachment of the Acting President Han Duck Soo), the FSC announced that the change in the procedure for quarterly dividends was passed into law.</li>
<li>The main change that has been made is that the the investors will know in advance how much they will receive in quarterly dividends. </li>
<li>Amid market turmoil, numerous high dividend paying stocks such as Hankook &amp; Company, HD Hyundai, and KT Corp have been outperforming the market this year. </li>
</ul>


Amid chaos in Korean politics (including impeachment of the Acting President Han Duck Soo), the FSC announced that the change in the procedure for quarterly dividends was passed into law.
The main change that has been made is that the the investors will know in advance how much they will receive in quarterly dividends. 
Amid market turmoil, numerous high dividend paying stocks such as Hankook &amp; Company, HD Hyundai, and KT Corp have been outperforming the market this year. 


Dividend Procedure Improvement Plan in Compliance with Global Standards Is Passed into Law

South Korea

KT Corporation provides telecommunication services including local, long distance, and international calling, satellite communication, data transmission, and wireless telephone services in South Korea.  The Company also offers network portal and high-speed Internet access services using asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSLs).

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KT Corp Sp Adr (KT US)

Separate Dividend Tax Plan in Korea: A Push for a 25% Rate for Top Bracket

The final decision to lower top bracket dividend tax from 35% to 25% could be made in the next several days. There have been increasing local news...

Douglas Kim

South Korea: Rebounding as Underweight Narrows

South Korea is back on the radar. Fund allocations have rebounded to 10.4%, with net positioning near equal weight for the first time in 17...

Steven Holden

Israel TA-125 Remains Bullish; Buys in Norway; All MSCI Global Indexes Above Base Supports

Israel TA-125 Remains Bullish; Buys in Norway; All MSCI Global Indexes Above Base Supports $ACWI, $ACWX, ACWI ex-US Small-Caps, $EEM, and $EFA....

Vermilion Research

Active GEM Funds: The Small Cap Effect

Small cap Emerging Market funds have outperformed their large-cap peers over the past 10 years, Yet small and midcap exposure decreased to near...

Steven Holden

Dividend Procedure Improvement Plan in Compliance with Global Standards Is Passed into Law

Amid chaos in Korean politics (including impeachment of the Acting President Han Duck Soo), the FSC announced that the change in the procedure for...

Douglas Kim

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